Paper-feeding mechanism.



H. WQ HARRIS.

PAPER FEEDNG MECHAMSM.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 23| 1917.

H. W. HARRiS.

.PAPER FEEDING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 23. 1911.

m0111611 Fe.18,1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

HUGH W. HARRIS., OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

l PAPER-manine MECHANISM.

lf.'- Spec'ication of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb, 1 8-, 1919.

f Application led Novenilgell., 1,917. Serial No. 203,477.

To all wliom t may concern Be it known-that I, HUGHvW. HARRIS, a

citizen of the United States, .residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and Auseful Improvements in Paper- Veeding Mechanisms, of which the. following is a specification.:l

- "Indoing `mechanical bookkeeping upon a: typewriting machine or an addingv machine, it is desirable to print the itemsimul-` tane'ously, ,-with" the aid of carbon paper,

uponthe customers loose-'leaf ledger sheet,

Vupon a billv or monthly statement of the cust.omer?s-`account, and upon a proof sheet. However, the spaces in which' Writing is to be done upon the ledger sheet, the statement and the proof sheet may be, and usually are,

at ldifferent heights'upon the sheets, that is to say, at different distances below the top edges ofthe sheets.' In such case it becomes necessary to assemble" the sheets in such a manner that the spaces to be written on upon thet-hree sheets shall be directly superposed in order that'thel item shall be printed at the proper places upon all three sheets at .the

same-time; in other words, the proper spaces of the several sheets must all be brought to the printing plane of the machine. S0

Various expedientsto effect the desired result above alluded to have been adopted,

but all-have been troublesomeand time-consuming, and therefore have limited the field of usefulnessof mechanical bookkeeping and similar operations;

--Thefobjectof this invention is to provide means whereby thesheets to be printed upon may beffed `to lthe 'platen in any convement .position and subsequently adjusted, easily and yquick ly,'intothe printing plane o fthe machine, vsobthat" the item shall be prlnted upon the properspaceseofall of the sheets at'thelsame time'.

v Infthe accompanying drawings,.-'Figure 1 is .aflowerside- "iew4 of the carriage of a-v mfachine embodying my'invention, the mech; anismfbeing shown infposition tofeed allo fthe sheetssimultaneously." Fig. V2 is a f 7- fr'xagmentaljl 'lowerside' view of the carriage showing the mechanism 1n position tofeed? only'theeledgerfisheet, and the proof s heet.- p Fig."3"is"a vsimilar view showing the :mecha-` nismin position to feed only the proof sheet.

lFigJ4is asectonal J view on an enlarged scale in the plane of dotted lino 4 4 of Fig. 1. -V In ythe-following descnption the term preferred construction. Thecarriagewhich f has been selected for illustration comprises two end plates 1 rigidly connected together by means of a front bar :Zand -a rear bar v3.'

4 is a cylindrical rubber-covered platen pro"- vided with a shaft- 5, saidshaft vbeing ro'- tatably mounted inthe end plates l ofthe i carriage. While the platen may be of any suitable construction, it herein shown as of unltary rather than divided construction,

the platen being rotatable throughout its entire length by means of veither one of thelv` hand wheels 6 carried by the 'shaft 5.`

The pa er-guidingmeans'may be of any suitable c aracter. erein is shown a paper shelf 7 extending from a point behind the platen to a. position close to the periphery* of the platen a little distance rearwardly of: the printingplane. The paper-shelf issupported to swing upon the-axisof the rod 3."v

Paper-guiding devices ofv any desired form and construction may be providedjtoA guide?" the paper up and around the forwardside f" of the platen. A spring paper-guiding lingers Sfadjustably I have herein illustrated overlapping the lower edge Ofthgpapgr .l

shelf 7 To cooperate with the platen in* feeding i the paper, there is-provideda suitablenumber of feed rbllsl rotatable independentlyoff ff each other upon a pivot rod 10. ;flnithe* drawings the Afeed rolls are' yindicate'dffatei),

l1 pivoted upon and extendingdownwa'rdly from therod 3. Any desired meansniay platen. Herein is shown a lever 12 integraly rovidedfor swinging the-arms lfltomove; the feed rolls toward andavvay` from the* n o j. .with one of the arms 11,. depression `ofd j* f which lever serves to move the rod 10 and feed rolls away from the platen.v Leaf springs 13 secured to the rod 3 and bearing as mounted upon a front ba-r 25 andfshghtly: u

45 the carbon sheet D. lVhen the feed rolls 9,

upon collars 1.4 on the pivot rod nor- .Inally hold the rolls pressed against the `paper or the platen, as the case may be.

The collars 14 serve to prevent endwise dis- .placement of the feed rolls, The paper shelf 7 has openings 15 therein to allow the feed rolls to make contact with the paper or the platen. 'The feed rolls are provided in any suitable manner with friction surfaces, as

midway between the side edges of the ledger sheet so as to be engaged by the feed rolls 9a and 9b but not by the feed rolls 9 and 9. D

"is a sheet of carbon paper interposed between the proof sheet and the ledger sheet, and lE is a sheet of carbon paper between the 'ledger sheet and the statement. The carbon sheet E is of approximately the same width as the statement, and is of about the same length as the ledger sheet. The carbon sheet D is' of about the same length as the proof .sheet A. The proof sheet and the carbonl sheet D usually remain in the machine until 'the proof sheet has been filled up. The ledger sheet and the statement for a givenf customer are inserted into the machine when an item or items for that customer are to beposted, and the ledger sheet and the statement are removed as soon as lsuchitems have been posted. In order to permitthe withdrawal of the ledger sheet,

the carbon sheet E and the statement with-k outI disturbing the proof sheet and the carbon sheet D, any suitable means nmay be employed, as, for example, springpressed paper fingers a of connnon' construction having rubber-coveredf rollers a. The fingers a are adjustable longitudinally of the. bar 2, and in use are positioned so that the rollers a bear upon the side-edge portions of `8 a, 9b and 9c are moved away from the paper by'means of the lever 12,`the paper fingers a prevent the proof sheet and the carbon sheet D from moving while the ledger sheet, the carbon sheet E and the statement are being withdrawn from the machine.. As will be understood, the carbon sheet D should be sufliciently wider than the ledger sheet to enable the rollers a to bear upon said carbon sheet.

Each of the three work sheets A, B and C ymay contain little or much 'matten and when'inserted into the machine the spaces in. which writing should be done on the several sheets must be brought to the printing plane of the machine. This result I accomplish by' holding the statement .stationary while feeding the ledger sheet and the proof sheet until the proper writing spare on the ledger sheet is in line with the proper Writing space on the statement and then holding the statement and the ledger sheet stationary while feeding the proof sheet until the proper writing space on the proof sheet is' alined with the writing spaces on the statement and the ledger sheet. The statement and the ledger sheet may be held stationary by any suitable means while the platen is being turned. If desired, the paper-feedingrolls 9 may be utilized for this purpose;

and' to this end I have provided means make contact with the beveled ends of saidv4 rolls. The locking ycollars may be knurled or otherwise adapted to cause friction with the feed rolls. Finger knobs 18 (Fig. 1) fixed upon the ends of the rod 16 provide' means for manually reciprocating the rod. When moved in one direction, the friction collars 17a and 17c are moved into engagement with the feed rolls 9il and 9b to lock said rolls against rotation, the rolls 9 and 9c being left free to turn. When the rod 16 is moved in the opposite direction, the collars 17, 17h, 17e and 17 f are moved into engagement with the rolls 9, 9a, 9b and 9C, respectively, thus holding all of the feed rolls against rotation. The rod 16 is normally held in neutral position byl any suitable means, as, for example, coiled expansion springs 19 surrounding the rod and interposed between the end plates 1 and stop ,collars 20 adjustably fixed upon the rod 16.

Assuming" that the several sheets are in the machine, the sheets are independently fed until the proper writing spaces on all of the sheets are in .Ma/linenient. For example, all of the sheets may be fed simultaneously until the proper writing space upon the statement is in the printing plane of the machine. One of the finger-knobs 18 is then operated to move the rod 16 to the right, into the position shown in Fig. 2, and held there by the operator, thusholding the feed rolls 9a and 9" (and hence the statement) against movement while the platen is being rotated by means of` one of the hand wheels 6. When the platen is rotated, Athe platen and the feed rolls 9 and 9 cause the proof sheet and the ledger sheet to move together until the proper writing space upon the ledger sheet is in the printing plane of the machine, the statement sheet C being meanwhile held stationaxjv because there is greater friction between the rub1 -r feed rolls 9a and 9* iso l andthe statement'sheet C than betweenthe statement sheet' C andthe carbon sheet- E. The operator then moves the rod 16 toward theI left into the position shown in Fig. 3 and holds the rod in such position while rotating the platen 4 until the desired space u n the' proof sheet is in the printing plane o the machine, the ledger sheet and the state ment being meanwhile held against movement by means of the feed rolls. There is greater friction between the rubber feed rolls 9, 9, 9" and 9 on the one hand, and the ledger sheet B and the statement sheet C on the other hand, than there is between the ledger sheet B and the carbon sheet D. Hence, when the feed rollsf9, 9, 9h and 9 are locked againstrotation, the ledger sheet B and the statement sheet C will be held against movement while the proof sheet A4 `is being fed through the friction between said proof sheet A and the platen. When the ledger sheet is being fed independently of the statement, the carbon sheet E moves with the ledger sheet B by reason of the friction between saidsheets B and E. Likewise, when the proof sheet A is being fed independently, the friction between the proofsheet and the carbon sheet D suffices to cause thecarbon sheet D to move with the proof Sheet A.

After the sheets A, B and VC have been properly adjusted with reference lto one another, they may be simultaneously fed in either direction, for line-spacing and other purposes, by turning the platen and leaving the feed rolls free to rotate.

It will be seen that in the selective feed ing operation just described, the rolls, 9, 9a,

9" and 9c act at times as feed rolls and at other times as holding or detaining devices, the rol-ls being well adapted to perform the lastmentioned function by reason of the frictional characteristic of their rubber peripheries and by reason of the pressure eX- erted by the springs 13. It will be understood, however, that the invention is not vsheet by feeding the carriage from right to left in the usual manner. y A

To aid in imparting a clear understanding of the invention, I have herein disclosed it in connection` with a specific form `of mechanical bookkeeping, but I wouldl have 1t .understood that the invention is applicable to various sorts of manifolding or multiple rolls to prevent rotation thereof when the platen rotatably mounted in the frame, a

operations capable of being performed upon typewriters, adding machines and similardeviees.

l claim as my invention: y

1. A printing machine having, in combination, a rotatable platen 'to receive a plurality of superposed sheets, thi-outermostI sheet being narrower than the other sheet, a rotatable feed roll yieldingly pressed against the narrow sheet, a rotatable feed roll yieldingly pressed against the Wide sheet, and means for selecti. ely preventing rotation of the feed rolls` v 2. A' printing machine having, in combination, a rotatable platen, a plurality of independently rotatable feed rolls yieldingly pressed toward the platen, a longitudinally ,reciprocatory' rod, a device on said rod to frictionally engage one end of one of the rod is moved in one direction, and a device on the rod to engage one end of another of l*said rolls to prevent rotation thereof When the rod is moved inthe opposite direction.

A printing machine having a frame, a

plurality of independently rotatable feed rolls for pressing paper against the lower portion of the platen,'a' rod mounted in the carriage below the platen for Ylongitudinal reciprocation, and means on said rod to engage the rolls to prevent rotation of the latter.

4. A printing machine having, in colu- -bination, a rotatable platen, a pivot rod, a

plurality of feed rolls mounted upon said rod for independent rotation, means to press the feed rolls toward the platen, and means for preventing rotation of one of the rolls.

5. A printing machine having, in combination, a unitary rotatable platen to receive a plurality of sheets, a feed roll to press one of the sheets against the platen,

a feed roll to press another of the sheets against the platen, and means for selectively preventing rotation of the feed rolls.

6. A printing machine having, in combination, a unitary rotatable platen to feed a group of superposed sheets, and pressure means frictionally engaging. the outer surface of the group of sheets and pressing the group toward the platen to hold stationary the part of the group engaged by said means while another part of said group is being fed by the platen.

7. A printing machine having, in combination, a unitary rotatable platen to feed a plurality of superposed sheets consisting of an outer sheet, an intermmediate sheet and an inner sheet, and pressure means friction- 125 ally engaging the outer sheet to hold such sheet stationary while the other sheets are being fed by the platen.

8. A printing machine having, in combination, a unitary rotatable platen to feed a 136 

